Screen flickers black(help)

crystalhaztazahs
crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
edited October 2008 in Support Desk
This is a problem that has going on for some time now. After a few hours of playing PW, sometimes my screen would turn black for a second, and then show the game again. I've played PW about a month now with no problems and now this occurs. My graphics card is a nvida GeForce 6600LE with 256MB. Gamma is at half, textures, distance and water are at full, trees and flowers are at 25%. Shadows, soften, sun/moon, and sharpen are on. Quality is on full. Refraction is off. I was thinking my graphics card needs a driver update, but I'm not quite sure. Can someone please help?

On the side note, could anyone tell me what the graphic options refraction, gamma, warp, Vsync, and prozy visuals? Thanks.
Post edited by crystalhaztazahs on

Comments

  • surtr
    surtr Posts: 3,378 Perfect World Employee
    edited October 2008
    This sounds like it MAY be a problem with the card itself rather than the game. Just to check, try A) turning all the settings to the minimum and seeing if the problem persists, and B) running another game with comparable or better graphics and seeing if you get the same error.

    As far as the different graphics settings, in-game you can press L to go to the help screen, then click the Basics tab and go down to Optimized Settings for descriptions of what does what.
    ==/Senior QA Lead/==

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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    I have ran PW on best performance setting and there are no problems with it. It seems like whenever I try running on my normal settings that I described I have problems. I don't have any other games on my computer but I have run ArchLord, HolicOnline and FlyFF online smoothly in the past.
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    That may be the setting you will have to play the game at.

    Driver compatibilities and bad drivers could be the issue.

    Have you tried changing the V-sync setting in-game and see if that helps?
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  • Brimsheen - Sanctuary
    Brimsheen - Sanctuary Posts: 83 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    this happened to me once, I suspect it's not a long-running issue. All I did was simply restart the computer, and try again. Hasn't happened since.
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  • gattsuru
    gattsuru Posts: 3,184 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    V-sync, or vertical synchronization, forces the video card to refresh in time with (in CRT monitors) your monitor's blanking interval. In short, it makes the video card wait til the monitor is ready before pushing an update, in order to prevent tearing or similar behaviour where some 'columns' of the screen updates to a frame a few portions of a second before the other columns. It will cause some performance overhead with little gain on more powerful systems, and prevent your frame rate from ever exceeding the monitor's refresh rate.

    Gamma correction... well, the underlying mechanics are stupidly complicated, but in practice, it's about changing brightness and contrast.

    Refraction enhances water appearance. I don't know if they translated the word properly, since adding the feature changes water color while Water is the one to actually involve the angles light moves at the boundary between water and air, but it's close enough.

    Warp does some more complicated calculation on the skybox, which should make the sky look better without requiring too many extra resources.

    This sort of behaviour *might* be related to v-sync, but the most likely issue sounds like heat or driver problems. Uninstalling your current display driver and the installing the most recent from nVidia may help. I'd also advocate opening up your computer case and taking a can of compressed air (~5 USD at WalMart) to clean out dust and hair from around the GPU's fan.
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    I turned on Vsync and for some hours and I had no blackouts, but then just now my screen flashed black and turned on again. This weekend I'm cleaning out my computer case. I'll consider re installing the drivers and updating Nvidia.
  • gattsuru
    gattsuru Posts: 3,184 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Alternatively -- and I know this sounds a little goofy -- check the connections between your monitor and the computer. Sometimes you'll see a black screen if a DVI or VGA cable is loosely connected.
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    I check the cables and they're fine.

    I updated Nvidia drivers today and no luck. I'll just have to wait and see this weekend if heat problems are the case. I only turned on textures and water to max setting and it still flashed black. V sync still doesn't help as well.
  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Well today I cleaned inside my CPU, used compressed air, wiped it down with a cloth, etc.

    I tried my game on high settings today. It works, except after 5 hours it starts to flicker black for the first time. After the 6th hour, it starts to flicker even more. I don't know what's the problem, I did everything that's recommended so far. My graphics card is 256MB, and it's just a standard one that came with the PC. It could be it's getting faulty and I may have to replace it, or maybe it's something else in my PC that's causing it. It doesn't flicker when I turn it on to best performance mode.
  • gattsuru
    gattsuru Posts: 3,184 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Try -- very gently, and with part of your body touching grounded metal -- unseating and reseating the graphics card (and, if there is a seperate power connection to it, the power connection. If there is a molex slot but nothing attached, please tell us).

    If your card is supported, you might want to try using RivaTuner to increase your fan speed and only fan speed.
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Hmm, okay. I'll probably do this next week since I'll be installing ram a ordered a few days ago. But what is molex slot?

    I have a scroll wheel on the side of my computer that lets me control the fan speed of my fans, it's currently at 55% out of 100%. Should I raise it and see what happens? Or will it burn my fans out quickly?
  • gattsuru
    gattsuru Posts: 3,184 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Molex is the brand name for the power connectors used inside computers. Some more powerful graphics cards require electricity (usually 12volt or 12volt and 5 volt) be fed to them seperately over such connectors, and you'll get a variety of ugly behavior if they don't get enough.

    Fan lifetime is usually a direct function of the number of rotations that the fan makes. Increasing fan speed will have a negative effect on fan lifetime. This usually is not overly dramatic, and often minor compared to the noise problems, but it is a concern. I'd advise only bumping that fan control up when you're already starting to experience flickering. The fan control on the graphics card is likely tied to a different controller, and I'd advise setting it at least 15% higher than it defaults to if possible -- those fans usually outlive the card they're on by years, so it shouldn't be an issue.
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Today I installed new RAM in my computer and unseating and reseating the graphics card. The problem still persists, and I don't see any special connectors or molex connectors. There's also no fan on my graphics card, there's one small on the motherboard, 1 placed on the ceiling on the cpu case, one on the side of the cpu case, and the main fan next to my RAM slots.
  • gattsuru
    gattsuru Posts: 3,184 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Can you provide use the information inside the following parts of a dxdiag :

    Display Tab - device box -
    Name:
    Chip Type:
    Approx Total Memory:

    Display Tab - driver box -
    Main Driver :
    Version :
    Date:
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Display>Device box

    Name:NVIDIA GeForce 6600LE

    Chip type: GeForce 6600LE

    Approx total memory: 256.0MB

    Display>Driver box

    Main Driver: nv4_disp.dll

    Version: 6.14.0011.7813(English)

    Date: 9/17/2008 09:55:00
  • gattsuru
    gattsuru Posts: 3,184 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Odd. Do you get this behavior in other games of similar complexity, or during stress testing? It doesn't look like a driver-related issue.
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    No, just only in this game. It works fine in ArchLord and other 3d games, but when I turn on high settings for PW, it starts to flicker after a few hours. Only during best performance it doesn't flicker unless I play for very long hours.
  • darthpanda16
    darthpanda16 Posts: 9,471 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    Your card could be overheating.

    Send us your full dxdiag to us: http://support.perfectworld.com/ticketing

    DXDiag
    1. In Vista, type dxdiag in the Start menu search bar
    2. In other versions of Windows, type dxdiag in the Run command (Start > Run)
    3. For Win XP, Start > Run type in dxdiag, press enter. Click on the button at the bottom that says Save all information. Save the file where you can keep track of it, such as the Windows Desktop.

    We'll take a look, and may ask you to send us another log too.

    Please detail, or copy and paste your issues into the email so we will know your issues.

    Thanks b:pleased
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  • crystalhaztazahs
    crystalhaztazahs Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2008
    I just sent my support ticket in with an attached dxdiag file. I don't know if it attached or not, but if it doesn't I'll just paste the whole dxdiag in the next email.

    Thanks for the all help. Hopefully my problem can be solved more easily.
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